Egypt’s Web Disconnect Spurs US Cyber Debate

As news of Egypt’s unrest continues to roll in, for many in the nation, it seems web and mobile services continue to remain out.

And just as quickly as the word spread across the globe, at home in the US, the tech world couldn’t help but to sync up those three, little hot-button words that help bring meaning and debate to the issue at hand.

Cue the ‘Internet kill switch.’
The often-disputed American idea of giving the president the power to shut down the Internet in the event of a major threat to national security has forced its way back into the spotlight as cybersecurity experts weigh in on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s decision to disconnect his people from communicating with each other and the outside world.

The kill switch, coined from a measure within Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper’s (D-Del.) Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act proposed last June, also reared its head on the Hill this week, as Sen. Collins said she plans to re-introduce the bill to the 112th Congress.

According to The Hill, Sen. Collins’ announcement came just in time to be criticized as a preemptive measure for the US to tackle potential issues similar to those in Egypt, despite the senator’s efforts to note otherwise.

But the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), where Sen. Collins sits as ranking member, is backing the senator and the proposal and is putting its foot down to discredit the correlation.

“Any comparison between Egypt’s actions and the Senators’ bill is specious,” Leslie Phillips, communications director for HSGAC Chairman Lieberman told The Hill. “Senators Lieberman, Collins, and Carper are trying to give the President the tools he needs to protect the country and the American people from external attack. In Egypt, the government is trying to restrict access to the Internet to protect itself from internal opposition.”

Meanwhile, noted tech columnist John Dvorak, in an article published by PC Magazine yesterday, warned that a potential kill switch in the US “would do more harm than good.”

“The most specious reason for this mechanism is that if some evil worm or attack on the National infrastructure –a.k.a. ‘Cyberwar’– would be underway, the Internet would need to be shut down to prevent further damage to the country, which apparently can no longer function without the Net,” Dvorak predicated. “This is kind of a weird tautology. The country can’t function without the Net, so we need to secure it, which includes having the ability to shut it down. But with the Net down, how can the country function?”

While there may be no right answer to Dvorak’s question, it is sure to arise again as Sen. Collins prepares to revive the cyber bill containing the kill switch concept. And whether or not Collins’ decision to re-push the legislation was spurred by the conflict in Egypt, it’s apparent now that as the divide and disconnect continues in the Arab nation, here in the US the debate for cyber freedom is just heating up.